Method of making blended tile



Oct. 13, 1953 c. H. BURCHENAL 2,654,912

METHOD OF MAKING BLENDED TILE Filed July 28, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l a! z BIA IVENTOR.

BY and, [M

' A Trek/V575.

Oct. 13, 1953 Filed July 28, 1948 C. H. BURCHENAL METHOD OF MAKING BLENDED TILE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENT'O BM BY fiW/EM Patented Oct. 13, 1953 -ME-THOD OF MAKING BLENDED TILE .Charles H. Burchenal, Cincinnati; Ohio, assignmto CambridgeTile Manufacturing Company,

Cincinnati, .0hio,.a corporation of Ohio Application 'July28, 1948, Serial No; 41,057

. LClaim. 1

pieces .of tile, whichadi-ffer irompiece to :piece in hue, chroma and.value,=and which, therefore, are of.muchmorerattractive appearance than tiles .of uniform color and appearance.

.It. has .beenrecognizedthat the installation of large expanses of tilewofuabsolute uniform color and -1appearance.is undesirable, since the effect. artistically, ttends Y to be deadaand monotonous. In. attempting. toiavoid such effects, mottled. tiles have been produced in the past, but the pieces, althoughcindividuallyzmottled, have in; general been of the-same. hue, chroma 'and' color value, and the overall effect hasbeen-that. ofavmonotone. In other instances, tiles have been produced by the application of superficial color nonuniformly upon tile bodiesrof a solid color, or, the color isapplied uniformly but checks occur durm firing tosuch an extent that the fina1:.prod-.

not is of textured appearance. For wall purposes, such tile is generally satisfactory. .However, if such tiles are used for floors, theglaze eventually wears away. the underlying color of the body'is exposed, and the tile presents a very undesirable appearance.

It is the principal objective of the invention to provide a simple and convenient method for producing tile'pieces'which'vary'in' color throughout the'body of eacl'rpieceand'whichalso'vary inhue. chroma and value within individual "pieces an'd from piece to piece. Such tiles, when assembled either one; floor or'wall, display a varying overall color "effect which "renders the assemblage more attractive in appearance. Sucntiles'are particularly adaptedforiflooring purposes, since uniformity of color variation throughout the bodies of the individual tiles enables them to retain'the'ir overall original appearance even though" wear may "expose different colors "in the individualtiles.

Tile isproduced on" a commercial scale bydepositing the body" composition, "which is in 'the form of apowder; in-aso-called shaker box; from a hopper,af-ter which the shaker box is'slid over die cavities in a tile. press, such that the powder falls from the box into the die cavities. Subsequently, the powder in the respective cavities of the die is compressed, and the compressed piecesare then removed from the die for firing orglaaing followed byfiring. The hopper is arranged adjacent the..tile.press,..and. the operator Bpreadsmthewpowder. with his 'handsiltormake sure :2 that each cavity will be; filled (with .powderirom the shaker box.

The composition .ofthe body determines its final appearance. Sometimes in the past, soecalled 'stippled or mottledz'tile-i has been manufactured by mixing two dififerent color compositions,;some- What roughly, 1 before introduction of the :;body into the. hopper and such: tiles, when l .i'lred, .w'ill individually presenta.somewhatimottled.appearance. .However, in. such :cases, :the individual pieces will be the same. in color: hue, chroma and value.

Thepresont inventioni.ls:;based...upon..the:concept 0f .divlding 1 the T hopper linto two :or #1110126 compartments, splacing .wbody. compositions of difierent color into the compartments and idlecharging l theidiiferent .compositions :;simultane ously: to: the; shaker box-and: subsequently torthe dle' cavities:inztheatiiepress. It. has been :determined:thatasuperficialrladmixing.of the: twoabody colors will coccur adoring their passage to the shaker boxcan'd .zduring idlstribntion.to the die cavities. in thGlfilfiilDl'BSS, tov such an extent; that the piecescof stile produced :ina this manner will havexblended :shades of color 1 individually, will vary. in. colonin; cross section. .but will also vary qualitatively iandisquahtitatively hue, chroma or:color. value; from piece to piece. l An assembly ofsuch pieces;therefore, will. produce the desired permanence 0t appearance; aswell as. th esired tonal variations necessary: to: avoid the mono ony wmh has: been characteristic ofexpenses of tile produccdsby pastgproduction methods.

the practice of the invention, the hopper for the body powder contains oneor more partitions and pref rably: is constructed to dischalige :body compositions from the hopper onto .a. vibrating table or: spoutr-attwhichmsome mixing can occur. Thea-Dress: operator.- spreads the :powder in 1 the shaker-box with his. hands in. the ,usualmanner and. this produces additional blending .of the two body compositions. Nextwtheshaker boxpis slid overthe diecavities-land the usual compression procedure-follows. .dllthough the change in procedure-.ianot great, the finahproducts are much moreatttactivettbantthose previously.- produced on a commercial scale.

lnasmumas .the. present. invention is particularlyusetu1..-in -.the .rmanufacture of I floor tiles, where ;;permanenee,;of .the appearance is of gr atest:importanceathe invention is disclosed particularly in :rclationhto- .such. utilization, but it: will; be: understoodvthat the word tile, as "used 1117- the specification and olaim, embraces wall tile mamas .fioorctilep and tilebodies of vitreous ing to usual procedure.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional View taken on the 7 line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a photolithographic reproduction of an assembly of tiles produced in accordance with the present invention.

In the apparatus shown in the drawings, a hopper Lhaving a conical lower portion 2 provided with a discharge annulus 3, is mounted over a bed 4. Between the bed and the hopper is located a sloping vibrating spout or table 6, which receives the powdered ceramic body from the hopper and distributes it into mold or shaker box 6. The upper end of the vibrating table is attached to the bed by means of a leaf spring 1, and the lower end of the table is vibrated by means of a vibrator 8. The table 5 comprises a discharge portion 9 which distributes the composition into the mold, and a receiving portion it disposed directly below the annulus of the hopper. A cloth sleeve H extends downwardly from the annulus of the hopper and engages the receiving portion of the vibrating table.- In order to prevent spilling of the ceramic material, the receiving portion of the table and the spout are provided with an upwardly standing marginal wall 12. I r

The hopper I is provided by an internal partition It, which preferably is disposed parallel to the path of discharge of the ceramic body from the vibratin table. Ceramic body of one color is placed on one side of the hopper and of a different color on the other side of the hopper, so that the hopper discharges two streams of ceramic material of diiferent colors. partition in the hopper may be varied toward one side orthe other to control the relative diameters of the two streams, and, thereby, to control the relative proportions of the two body streams. During movement of the streams down the spout 9, additional mixing is furthered by the manual 7 operation of distributing and smoothing the material discharged by the table into the shaker box. Thus, a charge of material is led into the box, and the operator sweep over the box by hand to insure that it is filled evenly. The die in which the tiles are pressed has its upper surface in the plane of the table over which the shaker'boX is movable and is usually a multiple cavity die in which 12 or 16 pieces of tile may be compressed at once. The shaker box, when filled,

is passed over the surface of the die and the clay falls from the box into the cavities after which the box is returned for the next load and the body composition in the'die cavities is then pressed. Subsequently, the tile bodies are removed from the die cavities and are fired accord- The degree of mixing achieved by the vibrat- The position of the ing table and the shaker box distributing and filling manipulation may be varied to produce desired efiects, but, in any case, the mixing is sumcient to prevent stratification of the streams, so that individual tile do not display sharp lines of contrast, and stops short of homogeneity, which would provide a tile not of two colors, but of one EXAMPLE 1 White v Per cent Kaolin 15 China clay 18 Feldspar 54 -lint 8 Ball clay 5 Talc Gray Per cent 'Kaolin -4 15.0

China clay 18.5 Feldspar 58.7" Flint 7.8 Talc .5' Iron chromate .335 Yellow body stain .168

EXAMPLE 2 Light turquoise r Per cent Kaolin 15.0- China clay 18.5 Feldspar 58.7 .Flint 7L8 Talc 15 Blue'green body stain 1 .34

Dark turquoise r 7 i i Per cent Kaolin 15.0.

China clay 18.5 Feldspar 58.7 Flint 7.8

Talc .5-

resultant color. If desired, three or more colors may be employed, but artistic effects may be achieved by means of two colors only.

Since the degree of admixture of the differently colored ceramic materials is less than that requisite to provide a uniform resultant color, the tiles will not be individually alike as to hue, chroma or value. Each will differ from other tiles in respect to the amount of exposed surface of each color and the surface design constituted by the co-mingled colors. Yet the individual tiles may be used together effectively and artistically.

Tile manufactured according to the invention displays a number of ornamental advantages: (1) Since the tile is slightly translucent, the color immediately below the surface effects the appearance ofthe surface, thereby providing shading more delicate than if a surface pigmentation alone'were visible. (2) The fiuxing components 1n the tile body, 1; e., the glass, which forms about pigment particles or agglomerates, tends to bleed or dissolve them, which softens their outlines, 7

the colors vary in the body and not merely on the surface of the body. a a

Representative examples of mixes of ceramic bodies suitable for use in the practice of this invention are as follows:

Blue green body, stain An assemblage V EXAMPLE 3 Salmon pink Per cent Kaolin 15.0 China clay 18.5 Feldspar 53.0 Flint 13.5 Talc .5 Pink body stain 2.25 Rutile 3.15

Bufl

Per cent Kaolin 15.0 China clay 18.5 Feldspar 53.0 Flint 13.5 Talc .5 Rutile 4.5

Percentages are by weight.

Any two of these may be used in combination in the hopper to produce the tile of this invention. A particularly pleasing efiect is obtained by combining a white body and a dark body to produce tile in which the under particles of dark body modify in varying degrees the color of the white body and vice versa. Thus, a photolithograph of such tile pieces in assembly is disclosed in Figure 4.

Having described my invention, I desire to be limited only by the following claim:

The method or making tile which comprises discharging a plurality of streams of differently colored dry powdered ceramic materials into a shaker box, mixing said stream sufllciently to blend the difierent colors and prevent stratification thereof, but not sufiiciently to accomplish homogeneous admixture of the colors, and discharging the powder in the shaker box into a plurality of individual tile molds, compressing the powder into tile piece and firing them, whereby an assemblage of individual tile pieces is provided, said individual tile pieces being like one another in that the color of each comprises an admixture of shades resulting from blending of the constituting colors, but being different from one another in that the shades vary qualitatively and quantitatively from tile to tile.

CHARLES H. BURCHENAL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 134,300 Mellen Dec. 24, 1872 301,359 Gregg July 1, 1884 722,151 Seaver Mar. 3, 1903 827,472 Simpson July 31, 1906 978,617 Mitats Dec. 13, 1910 1,102,851 Avram July 7, 1914 1,560,450 Wesely Nov. 3, 1925 1,619,733 Jeppson Mar. 1, 1927 1,637,946 Knofe Aug. 2, 1927 1,641,049 Poston Aug. 30, 1927 1,727,580 White Sept. 10,1929 1,885,774 Showers Nov. 1, 1932 1,917,139 McCutcheon July 4, 1933 2,020,137 Damhorst Nov. 5, 1935 2,036,131 Gaertner et a1. Mar. 31, 19 6 2,445,552 Baxter July 20, 1948 

